First Infallible: First Infallible: Mohammad Al-Mustafa (saw) Sayings:

First Infallible: Mohammad Al-Mustafa (saw) Sayings:
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First Infallible: Mohammad Al-Mustafa (saw) Sayings:
*. The most honored among people who is pious, and the strongest among
people who depends on Allah.
*. A man giving in alms one piece of silver in his lifetime is better
for him than giving one hundred when about todie.
*. To meet friends cheerfully and invite them to a feast are charitable acts.
*. To extend consideration towards neighbors and send them presents
are charitable acts.
*. To acquire knowledge is binding upon all Muslims, whether male or female.
*. The ink of the scholar ismore holy than the blood of the martyr.
*. He who travels in the search of knowledge, to him God shows the way
of Paradise.
*. Acquire knowledge, because he who acquires it, in the way of the
Lord, performs an act of piety; who speaks of it praises the Lord; who
seeks it, adores God, who dispenses instruction init, bestows alms;
and who imparts it to its fitting objects, performs an act of devotion
to God. Knowledge enables its possessor to distinguishwhat is
forbidden from what is not; lights the way to Heaven; it is our friend
in the desert, ourcompanion in solitude, our companion, when benefit
of friends; it guides us to happiness; it sustains us in misery; it is
our ornament in the company of friends;it serves as an armor against
our enemies. With knowledge the creatures of Allah rises to the
heights of goodness and to noble position, associates with the
sovereigns in this world and attains the perfection of happiness in
the next.
*. Keep yourselves far from envy, because it eats up and takes away
good actions, like the fire that eats up and burns wood.
*. Whoever suppresses hisanger, when he has in his power to show it,
God will give him a great reward.
*. He is not strong and powerful, who throws people down, but he is
strong who withholds himself from anger.
*. Deal gently with a people, and be not harsh; cheer them and condemn not.
*. Much silence and a good disposition; there are no two works better
than these.
*. The best of friends is hewho is best in behavior and character.
*. One who does not practice modesty and does not refrain from
shameless deeds is not a Muslim.
*. Paradise lies at the feet of thy mother.
*. He who wishes to enter Paradise must please his father and mother.
*. No one who keeps his mind focused entirely upon himself can grow
large, strong and beautiful in character.
*. Whoever loves to meet God, God loves to meet him.
*. The five stated prayers erase the sins which have been committed
during the intervals between them if they have not been mortal sins.
*. God is not merciful to him who is not so to humankind. He who is
not kind to God's creation and to his ownchildren, God will not be
kind to him.
*. Whosoever visits a sick person, an angel calls from Heaven: "Be
happy in the world and happy be your walking;and take your habitation
in Paradise."
*. The love of the world is the root of all evils.
*. Wealth properly employed is a blessing; and a man may
lawfullyendeavor to increase it by honest means.
*. One who listens to the call of a Muslim, and does not respond to
it, is NOT a Muslim.
*. One, who gets up in themorning and is not concerned about the
affairs of other Muslims,is NOT a Muslim.
*. Being in need of Allah isa source of pride for meand I take pride in it.
*. Honesty brings subsistence. Dishonesty brings poverty.
*. I will certainly hear himwho greets me near mytomb, and I will
surely respond the salaams of him who greets me from any place.

Islam's History - The Battle of Islam at Nahrawan:

After the unsatisfactory conclusion to the Battle of Siffin , Imam Ali
(A.S.) returned with his army back to Kufa on the 13th of Safar 37
A.H. During the march, a group of 12,000 men kept themselves at a
distance from the main part of thearmy.
The group was furious at the way things had ended at Siffin. These
were the Kharjites (Kharjite means one who rebels against religion).
They were the same people who had put down their weapons on the
battlefield. Now they said that Imam Ali (A.S.) had betrayed Islam by
agreeing to the truce andshould have referred judgment to the Holy
Qur'an alone or continued to fight. They demanded that he repentfor
this great sin.
When the army neared Kufa, the Kharjites camped at a village named
Harura. They started saying that all Muslims were equal and nobody
could rule over the other. In this way, they denounced both Imam Ali
(A.S.) and Muawiya and said that their belief was in "La Hukma Illa
Lillah", meaning, "No Ruler ship except by Allah alone."
Imam Ali (A.S.) sent Sasaa Bin Sauhan and Ziad Bin Nazr Harisi in the
company of Ibne Abbas towards them and afterwards himself went to the
place of their stay and tried to explain to them that they were
misunderstanding the words "La Hukma Illa Lillah" , and that in
accepting the arbitration (peace talks) at Siffin, he had not gone
against theteachings of the Holy Qur'an.
He pointed out that they themselves were at fault, because they should
never have laid down their arms and forced him to call back Malike
Ashtar , who was at the point of securing victory. He reminded them
that they had pressed for the arbitration and had forced him to
appoint Abu Musa Ash'ari as their representative. He told them that he
found their present behavior very strange, considering their
involvement in Siffin. To this they admitted that they had sinned but
now they had repented for it and he should do the same.
Imam Ali (A.S.) replied that he was a true believer and did not haveto
repent because he hadnot committed any sin and dispersed them after
discussion.
The Kharjites refused to accept the words of Imam Ali (A.S.) and
awaited the decision of Amr al-Aas and Abu Musa Ash'ari. When they
learnt of the decision they decided to revolt, and they set up their
headquarters at Nahrawan, twelve miles from Baghdad. Some people came
from Basra to join the rebels.
On the other side, after hearing the verdict of Arbitration Imam Ali
(A.S.)rose for fighting the army of Syria and wrote to the Kharijites
that the verdict passed by the twoarbitrators in pursuance of their
heart's wishes instead of the Qur'an andsunnah was not acceptable to
him, that he had therefore decidedto fight with them and they should
support him for crushing the enemy. But the Kharijites gave him this
reply, "When you had agreed to Arbitration in our view you had turned
heretic. Now if you admit your heresy and offer repentance we will
think over this matter and decide what we should do." Imam Ali (A.S.)
understood from their reply that their disobedience and misguidance
had becomevery serious. To entertainany kind of hope from them now was
futile. Consequently, ignoring them he encamped in thevalley of
an-Nukhaylah with a view to marching towards Syria to fight against
Muawiya.
Imam Ali (A.S.) had already started towards Muawiya when he received
the news that they had butchered the governor of Nahrawan namely
Abdullah Ibn Khabbab Ibn al-Aratt and his slave maid with the child in
her womb, and have killed three women of Banu Tayyi and Umm Sinan
as-Saydawiyyah. Imam Ali (A.S.) sent al-Harith Ibn Murrah al-Abdi for
investigation but he too was killed by them. When their rebellion
reached this stage it was necessary to deal with them. There was a
danger that the Kharjites might attack Kufa while Imam Ali (A.S.)and
his men were marching towards Muawiya, so Imam Ali (A.S.) decided to
stop them. He changed his course eastward, crossed the river Tigris
and approached Nahrawan.
On reaching there Imam Ali (A.S.) sent a messengerto the Kharjites
demanding that those people who had murdered innocent Muslims around
their camp should be surrendered. The Kharjites replied that they were
all equally responsible for killing these sinners.
There was some reluctance in the army of Imam Ali (A.S.) to fight the
Kharjites, because they had been their companions against Muawiya at
Siffin. Imam Ali (A.S.) himself did not desire the bloodshed of these
misguided fanatics,so he sent Abu Ayyub al-Ansari with a message of
peace. So he spoke to them aloud, "Whoever comes under this banner or
separates from that party and goes to Kufah or al-Mada'in would get
amnesty and he would not be questioned. As a result of this Farwah Ibn
Nawfal al-Ashja'i said that he did not know why they were at war with
Imam Ali (A.S.). Saying this he separated along with five hundred men.
Similarly group after group began to separate and some of them joined
Imam Ali (A.S.). In the end, only cores of 1,800 die-hards were left
under the command of Abdallah binWahab. These Kharjites swore that
they would fight Imam Ali (A.S.) at any cost.
Nahjul Balagha - Sermon 36/Warning the people of Nahrawan of their fate:
"I am warning you that you will be killed on the bend of this canal
and onthe level of this low area while you will have no clear excuse
before Allah nor any open authority with you. You have come out of
your houses and then divine decree entangled you. I had advised you
against this arbitration but you rejected my advice like adversaries
and opponents till I turned my ideas in the direction of your wishes.
You are a group whose heads are devoid of wit and intelligence. May
you have no father! (Allah's woe be to you!) I have not put you in any
calamity nor wished you harm."
The Kharjites attacked Imam Ali's (A.S.) army with desperate courage.
However, they did not stand a chance against the superior army that
faced them and they were all killed except nine men. These nine
managed to flee to Basra and elsewhere, where they spread the fire of
their hatred and recruited more followers.From Imam Ali's (A.S.) army
only eight persons fell as martyrs. The battle took place on the 9th
Safar, 38 A.H. Two years later, in 40 A.H., it was theKharjites who
sent out three assassins to kill Imam Ali (A.S.), Muawiya and Amr
al-Aas. The lattertwo survived but Imam Ali (A.S.) was martyred
following Ibne Muljam's cowardly attack in the mosque of Kufa.
Having disposed of the Kharjites at Nahrawan, Imam Ali (A.S.) resumed
his march to Syria. However, the chiefs of hisfollowers urged him to
stop at Kufa to let the men rest before the long journey and to enable
the army to repair their weapons and armours. Imam Ali (A.S.) agreed
to this request and camped at Nukhayla outside Kufa.The soldiers were
allowed to leave the camp for a day.
On the next day, hardly any men returned and at length, Imam Ali
(A.S.) entered Kufa and gave a stern sermon to the people. However,
nobodycame forward and finally,Imam Ali (A.S.) turned away from them
in disappointment. The Syrian expedition was abandoned, never to be
resumed.

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And Allah Knows the Best!

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Published by :->
M NajimudeeN Bsc- INDIA

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Thumamah ibn Uthal - Biographies of the Companions (Sahabah)

In the sixth year after the hijrah, the Prophet, may the blessings of
God be on him, decided to expand the scope of his mission.He sent
eight letters to rulers in the Arabian peninsula and surrounding areas
inviting them to Islam. One of these rulers wasThumamah ibn Uthal.
Thumamah was one of the mostpowerful Arab rulers in pre-Quranic times.
This is not surprising since he was a chieftain of the Banu Hanifah
and one of the rulers of al-Yamamah whose word no one dared to
challenge or disobey.
When Thumamah received the Prophet's letter, he was consumed by anger
and rejectedit. He refused to listen to the invitation of Truth and
goodness. More than that, he felt a strong desire to go and killthe
Prophet and bury his mission with him.
Thumamah waited and waited for a convenient time to carry out his
design against the Prophet until eventually forgetfulness caused him
to loseinterest. One of his uncles, however, reminded him of his plan,
praising what he intended to do.
In the pursuit of his evil design against the Prophet, Thumamah met
and killed a group of the Prophet's companions. The Prophet thereupon
declared hima wanted man who could lawfully be killed on sight. Not
long afterwards, Thumamah decided to perform umrah. He wanted to
perform tawaf around the Kabah and sacrifice to the idols there. So he
left al-Yamamah for Makkah. As he was passing near Madinah, an
incident took place which he had not anticipated.
Groups of Muslims were patrolling the districts of Madinah and
outlying areas on the lookout for any strangers or anyone intent on
causing trouble. One of these groups came upon Thumamah and
apprehended him but they did not know who he was. They took him to
Madinah and tied him to one of the columns in themosque. They waited
for the Prophet himself to question the man and decide what should be
done with him.
When the Prophet was about to enter the mosque, he saw Thumamah and
asked his companions, 'Do you know whom you have taken?"
"No, messenger of God," they replied.
"This is Thumamah ibn Uthal al-Hanafi," he said. "You have done well
in capturing him."
The Prophet then returned home to his family and said,"Get what food
you can and send it to Thumamah ibn Uthal."He then ordered his camel
to be milked for him. All this was donebefore he met Thumamah or had
spoken to him.
The Prophet then approached Thumamah hoping to encouragehim to become
a Muslim. "What do you have to say for yourself?"he asked.
"If you want to kill in reprisal," Thumamah replied, "you can have
someone of noble blood to kill. If, out of your bounty, you want to
forgive, I shall be grateful. If you want money in compensation, I
shall give you whatever amount you ask."
The Prophet then left him for two days, but still personally sent him
food and drink and milk from his camel. The Prophet went back to him
and asked, "What do you have to say for yourself?" Thumamah repeated
what he had said the day before. The Prophet then leftand came back to
him the following day. "What do you have to say for yourself?" he
asked again and Thumamah repeated what he had said once more. Then the
Prophet turned to his companions and said, "Sethim free."
Thumamah left the mosque of the Prophet and rode until he came to a
palm grove on the outskirts of Madinah near al-Baqi' (a place of
luxuriant vegetation which later became acemetery for many of the
Prophet's companions). He watered his camel and washed himself well.
Then he turned back and made his way to the Prophet's mosque. There,
he stood before a congregation of Muslims and said: "I bear witness
that there is no god but Allah and I bear witness that Muhammad is His
servant and His messenger." He then went tothe Prophet, upon whom be
peace, and said: "O Muhammad, by God, there was never on this earth a
face more detestable than yours. Now, yours is the dearest face of all
to me." "I have killed some of your men," he continued, "I am at your
mercy. What will you have done to me?"
"There is now no blame on you, Thumamah," replied the Prophet.
"Becoming a Muslim obliterates past actions and marks a new
beginning."
Thumamah was greatly relieved.His face showed his surprise andjoy and
he vowed, "By God, I shall place my whole self, my sword, and whoever
is with me at your service and at the serviceof your religion."
"O Rasulullah," he went on,"when your horsemen captured me I was on my
way to perform umrah. What do you think I should do now?"
"Go ahead and perform your umrah," replied the Prophet,"but perform it
according to the laws of God and His messenger."The Prophet then
taught him how to perform umrah according to Islamic rules.
Thumamah left to fulfill his intention. When he reached the valley of
Makkah, he began shouting in a loud, resonant voice:
"Labbayk Allahumma labbayk. Labbayka Laa shareeka Laka labbayk. Innal
hamda wan ni'mata Laka wall mulk. Laa shareeka Lak. (Here I am at Your
command O Lord, Here I am. Here I am. No partner have You. Here I am.
Praise, bounty and Dominion belong to You. No partner have You.")
He was thus the first Muslim on the face of the earth to enter Makkah
reciting the talbiyah.
The Quraysh heard the sound of the talbiyah and felt both anger and
alarm. With drawn swords, they set out towards the voice to punish the
one who had thus assaulted their preserve. As they came closer to him,
Thumamah raised his voice even higher while reciting the talbiyah and
looked upon them with pride and defiance. One of the Qurayshyoung men
was particularly incensed and was about to shoot Thumamah with an
arrowwhen the others grabbed his hand and shouted:
"Woe to you! Do you know who this is? He is Thumamah ibn Uthal, ruler
of al-Yamamah. By God, if you should harm him, his people would cut
our supplies, with dire consequences for us."
Swords were replaced in their scabbards as the Quraysh went up to
Thumamah and said:
"What's wrong with you, Thumamah? Have you given in and abandoned your
religion and the religion of your forefathers?"
"I have not given in," he replied,"but I have decided to follow
thebest religion. I follow the religion of Muhammad. "
He then went on: "I swear to you by the Lord of this House that after
my return to al-Yamamah, no grain of wheat or any of its produce shall
reach you until you follow Muhammad."
Under the watchful eyes of the Quraysh, Thumamah performed umrah as
the Prophet, peace be upon him, had instructed him. He dedicated his
sacrifice to God alone.
Thumamah returned to his land and ordered his people to withhold
supplies from the Quraysh. The boycott gradually began to have effect
and became more and more stringent. Prices began to rise. Hunger began
to bite and there was even fear of death among the Quraysh. Thereupon,
they wrote to the Prophet, saying:
"Our agreement with you (the treaty of Hudaybiyyah) is that you should
maintain the bonds of kinship but you have gone against that. You have
cut the bonds of kinship. You have killedand caused death through
hunger. Thumamah ibn Uthal has cut our supplies and inflicted harm on
us. Perhaps you would see fit to instruct himto resume sending us what
we need."
The Prophet immediately sent a messenger instructing Thumamah to lift
the boycott and resume supplies to the Quraysh. This Thumamah did.
Thumamah spent the rest of his life in the service of his religion,
abiding by the undertaking he had given to the Prophet. When the
Prophet died, many Arabs began leaving the religion of God in great
numbers. Musaylamah, the impostor, began calling the Banu Hanifah to
believe in him as a Prophet. Thumamah confronted him and said to his
people:
"O Banu Hanifah, beware of this grievous matter. There is no light or
guidance in it. By God, it will only bring distress and suffering to
whoever joins this movement and misfortune even to those who do not
join.
"O Banu Hanifah, two prophets do not come at the same time and there
shall be no Prophet after Muhammad and no Prophet to share in his
mission."
He then read out to them the following verses of the Quran:"Ha Mim.
The revelation of this Book is from God the Almighty, the Knowing. He
forgives sins and accepts repentance. He is severe in punishment and
has a long reach. There is no god except Him. To Him is the journey's
end." (Surah Ghafir; verses 1-3).
"Can you compare these words of God with the uttering of Musaylamah?" he asked.
He then gathered together all those who had remained in Islam and
began to wage a jihadagainst the apostates and to make the words of
God supreme. The loyal Muslims of Banu Hanifah needed additional help
to stand against the armiesof Musaylamah. Their arduous task was
completed by the forces dispatched by Abu Bakr but at the cost of many
a Muslimlife.

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And Allah Knows the Best!

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Published by :->
M NajimudeeN Bsc- INDIA

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A Day on the Tennis Courts

This is a funny short story about a tennis match in a competitive
tennis league... although I am not sure how funny it was at the time.
Our next opponent in the tennis league, Richmond, came into the match
witha dreadful record of 0 wins, 5 losses. The interesting thing about
Richmond was their captain. Every captain hasa different personality
in this league, but I have been warned about Mikhail being a"handful".
We hosted Richmond on Saturday. Some of their players, who had paid
large dues to be a member of their club, seemed annoyed that they had
to play on our public courts, a far cry from the quality of the
typical private club. As their players took the court, Mikhail grabbed
a measuring tape out of hisbag and measured the height of the net. He
complained that the net was a ½ inch too high and demanded that we
drop it. I felt like saying,"Look, your team is 0-5, does it really
matter?", but instead I lowered the net to his satisfaction. Then,
when he opened a can of balls that we supplied, he complained that the
balls were too fuzzy.
When I tested the ball, it bounced fine and I realized the only thing
fuzzy was his logic."You're welcome to open another can of your own if
you like." He muttered something under his breath before he found
something new to complain about, a few cracks on our public courts.
Due to Mikhail's shenanigans, we started the match about fifteen
minutes late. After my partner and I won a hard fought first set in
doublesagainst Mikhail and his partner, we had our next controversy.
For background, Mikhail is the kind of guy who would argue with a sign
post. He spent the next five minutes disputing (incorrectly) whose
serve and on what side the server should start in the next set.
This is exactly why every league captain should bring to each match
The Code, which lists all the league rules and regulations. It's not
enough to know the rules. When you have to deal with guys like
Mikhail, you have to actually show him the rules in black and white.
After showing Mikhail therelevant section of The Code, he mumbled,
"They must have changed the rule recently." Yeah, right.
Later in the match, four points into a game, Mikhail called out the
score "40-15."
"No, no. The score is 30 all," I said, approaching the net. My partner
nodded in agreement.
"No, it's 40-15," Mikhail said adamantly.
After a long argument and attempt to recall all the points in the
game, we could only remember three points, two, they won and one we
won. I said, "The rule in this caseis that we play from 30-15, the
specific points in the game we all agree on."
"No," Mikhail said, shaking his head. "As server, it's my call and I
say the score is 40-15. That's the rule."
I respectfully asked him what he had been smoking and was it for
medicinal purposes before pulling out the rule book again. After
showing him the relevantsite proving my point, Mikhail grumbled under
his breath that it should be the server's decision because he's the
one thatknows the score.
Mikhail went on to win his service game. Then, I started my next
service game by shouting the score "40 love". When Mikhail put both
hands on his hips in clear protest, I said, "As server, it's my call."
And the congeniality went down from there.
We went on to win the match. Afterwards, I learned Mikhail is one of
those league players whoalways had an excuse for a loss. Here is a
list of my favorite excuses (three of which Mikhail used) that all
start with the quote, "Iwould've won if it wasn't for the..."
(1) Bad line calls
(2) Blinding sun (didn't your opponent have to deal with this too?)
(3) Wind (didn't your opponent have to... nevermind)
(4) New racket (you believed the ad saying it would make you a better player)
(5) Play of my partner (Some people have never lost a doubles match...
but their partners have)
(6) Heat, if temperatures were greater than 75 degrees
(7) Cold, if temperatures were less than 75 degrees
(8) Crowd noise (because you play your best tennis in libraries)
(9) Fact that your opponent simply played better than you. The real
reason for almost all defeats in tennis.